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Scam emails about phony court cases

The
Iowa Supreme Court issued a news release yesterday warning attorneys to
disregard emails that claim to be from the Iowa Judicial Branch or a court
official. According to the release, the scam emails state that a complaint was
received, or court-ordered restitution is due, or a trial date with the Iowa
Court of Appeals is set.

The
Iowa Judicial Branch doesn’t issue official court communications by email
unless the recipient is a registered eFile user and the document is clearly
identified as a "Notice of Electronic Filing or Presentation.” Such notices
will never ask the recipient to send money, request a social security number,
direct the recipient to call a certain phone number or advise the reader to
download a document.

According
to the release, if you receive an email of the nature described above, don’t
open it, don’t respond to it and don’t click on any links in it.

28 attorneys elected to district
judicial nominating commissions

Election
results for the two open attorney positions on each of Iowa’s 14 district
judicial nominating commissions have been certified and released. The 28 new
attorney members were elected by their fellow attorneys in each district in a
January vote.

As
commissioners responsible for selecting candidates for open judgeships in the
district, they join three other attorney members and five governor-appointed
members on the 11-person commissions in each district. The chief judges of the
districts serve as chairs of the commissions and as the eleventh members.

Online video
provides one hour of free ethics credit

If
you’re one of the many members who forgot about the new court rule requiring
three hours of ethics in two years and had to file an extension for turning in
your report, the ISBA has a deal for you. As one of the benefits of membership,
you can pick up that extra hour free by viewing the video "Ethics Law for New
Lawyers.” Non members still have to pay the $35 cover price.

In
the video, Paul Wieck II, director of the Office of Professional Regulation,
discusses lawyer regulation in Iowa, sources of ethics law for lawyers,
reporting by Iowa lawyers and other topics.

The
video can be accessed from the "On Demand CLE” page on the ISBA website at this
link. (Note that the
price shown is $35. Ignore that price if you are a member. When you click on
"View Product” and add the video to your cart, you will see $0.00 as the
price. ISBA members, please remember to log-in to receive the video for free).

You
can also check out all of the videos in the CLE arsenal, including this one, by
going to theISBA website,
hovering your mouse over "CLE” in the gold bar at the top of the home page,
then clicking on "On Demand CLE.”

FYI:
Clicking on the submenu item "My CLE – View Now!” will give you information
about courses, seminars or webinars that you have in progress, or ones that you
have completed. Again, to view your videos, you must be logged on to the ISBA website.

Check out
these legislative bills

Now
it’s easier than ever to monitor legislative bills that potentially impact law
practice in Iowa. Click on this link
to open a pdf that lists all of the bills that ISBA legislative counsel are
watching. The bills are categorized by the section or committee that would be
impacted the most by their passage.

Clicking
on the bill number on the left side of the document takes you to a screen
that provides more detailed information about the bill, including the ISBA’s
position on it (monitoring, opposing, or supporting), the last action taken on the
bill, a link that gives you the bill history and an opportunity to post your
comments.

You
can also access a list of bills relevant to the section(s) of which you are a
member by clicking on the logo "Legislative Bills of Interest” on the section
web page.
Clicking on the bill number will give you the same detailed information and the
opportunity to post a comment that is discussed above.

Reminder:
Only two weeks left to sign up for committees, section councils

There’s
still time to apply for the committees or section councils if you hurry. The
deadline is Friday (Feb. 28).

President-elect
Joe Feller has begun making assignments based on applications received so far.
However, there still are openings for which applications are needed.

"This
is your bar association, take this opportunity to make it better,” Feller wrote
in his letter announcing that the application period had begun in the January
2014 issue of the Iowa Lawyer magazine.

Savings on
health insurance premiums

ISBA’s
endorsed health insurance provider, Reynolds & Reynolds, Inc., has worked
out a plan for the ISBA staff that resulted in a 25 percent reduction in
premiums while retaining the same or better benefits.

The
passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act created many changes
to health insurance coverage options and how insurance is purchased. Reynolds
& Reynolds would welcome the opportunity to visit with you in light of
these changes to see if you could save premium costs and still have the same or
better benefits.

In
the next few weeks, a Reynolds & Reynolds representative may call you to
see what service they can provide you, your family and your employees. Click here
to see how they might be able to help.

If
you prefer, you can call them at 1-855-870-4261, or email Kristi or David at
the addresses shown here.

Judge McDonald investiture on Feb. 25

Judge
Christopher Lee McDonald will take the oath of office administered by Governor
Terry Branstad as the newest member of the Iowa Court of Appeals at 3 p.m.
Tuesday (Feb. 25) in the supreme court courtroom. The 39-year-old judge, who
comes to the court of appeals from his role as a district court judge in the
Fifth Judicial District, fills the vacancy created when Chief Judge Larry
Eisenhauer retired.

Born
in Bangkok, Thailand, Judge McDonald received his undergraduate degree from
Grand View University in 1997 and his J.D. from the University of Iowa College
of Law. After graduation, he clerked for Judge David R. Hansen at the United
States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Following his clerkship, he
worked in private practice until being appointed to the bench.

A
reception for Judge McDonald will be held from 4:30-7 p.m. at the ISBA
headquarters following the investiture ceremony.

Gov.
Branstad appoints Jeanie Kunkle Vaudt District Court Judge

Gov.
Branstad has appointed Jeanie Kunkle Vaudt as the newest judge in the Fifth
Judicial District. She was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Glenn
E. Pille.

Judge
Vaudt received her law degree from Drake University Law School and was admitted
to the bar in 1991. Most recently she served as an Assistant Attorney General in
the Iowa Attorney General’s Office.

Registration
now open for Criminal Law seminar

Details
about the agenda and registration information for the ISBA Criminal Law
Section’s 2014 seminar are now available. The seminar will be held May 2 from 8
a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the ISBA headquarters in Des Moines.

Among
the topics planned are attorney qualifications for court-appointed criminal
defense work, immigration issues, representing juveniles in adult court, and
the effect on Iowa from the legalization of marijuana in other states.

…the ISBA is offering a free one-hour ethics
presentation titled "Ethics Law for New Lawyers" from its listings of "on-demand” CLE courses in its On-Demand CLE
Catalog + Previews? Topics, including Business Entities, Civil Procedure,
Guardianships, Iowa Contracts, and Probate and Estate Administration are
presented by various speakers in a convenient-to-use video format. To access
the catalog directly, click here,
or from the ISBA homepage, go to "CLE,” then click on "On-Demand CLE.” ISBA members, please log on to the ISBA website to get the full benefits of the On-Demand CLE Catalog.

Benefit of the Week

Caselaw UpdateCaselaw
Update is a free email service that keeps you abreast of recent cases
that have been added to the Iowa Bar’s case law archives. Once you are
subscribed, you will receive an email each time decisions are handed
down by the Iowa Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. Each edition
summarizes recent cases by topic and provides direct links to the full
text of each decision.